Sponsored

Insurance Recomendations

Luvwine

Well-Known Member
First Name
Stephen
Joined
Jun 7, 2021
Threads
3
Messages
86
Reaction score
101
Location
Western North Carolina
Vehicle(s)
2010 Wrangler Unlimited Sport
I am a Plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer and have handled claims and tried cases against every major insurer for over 30 years. Most companies are pretty good on property damage claims (tho not always) but where they really differ is on the bodily injury side. Yes, usually your claim is against the other guy’s policy, but if they don’t have coverage or not enough, then your UM/UIM coverage will come into play. Also, if you are at fault, you want your insurer to fairly resolve a claim so you don’t get sued unnecessarily.

Anyway, I don’t shop on rates but have a pretty good feel for which companies are pretty good and which suck claims wise. Off the top of my head and just my opinion:

Good: Cincinnati, USAA, Nationwide, Travelers, Amica (tho not as good as they used to be), The Hartford.

Not so good: GEICO, Progressive, State Farm. I usually have to sue cases with all of these companies. They tend to make poor offers Pre-suit. Usually (almost always with Progressive and GEICO) I can resolve the cases fairly after some litigation. State Farm I have to try cases more often.

Worst: Allstate. Avoid like the plague. They lowball pretty much on every case then remain bad through trial. Two of my last three jury trials were with them snd offers so bad that I got 5x and 10x their highest offer at trial—just ridiculous. This does not apply to Property damage but why deal with a company that increases your chances of being sued if you are at fault or will treat you like crap if you make a UM/UIM claim?
Sponsored

 

Strommen95

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Threads
10
Messages
1,505
Reaction score
3,503
Location
New York
Vehicle(s)
2022 GMC Canyon
I had USAA for a while. It's an excellent insurance but not the cheapest. Customer service is great and the one time I had a windshield claim, dealing with them was trouble free. I now have Geico and haven't had to file a claim or do anything more than set up autopay. I've heard varying things about Geico both good and bad. I find the App very easy to use though and think a claim would be an easy process with them too. For me, saving money with Geico has been worthwhile.
 

CT_LFC

Well-Known Member
First Name
Ed
Joined
Apr 22, 2019
Threads
24
Messages
773
Reaction score
1,214
Location
SC
Vehicle(s)
Volvo XC90 / JLUR
I am a Plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer and have handled claims and tried cases against every major insurer for over 30 years. Most companies are pretty good on property damage claims (tho not always) but where they really differ is on the bodily injury side. Yes, usually your claim is against the other guy’s policy, but if they don’t have coverage or not enough, then your UM/UIM coverage will come into play. Also, if you are at fault, you want your insurer to fairly resolve a claim so you don’t get sued unnecessarily.

Anyway, I don’t shop on rates but have a pretty good feel for which companies are pretty good and which suck claims wise. Off the top of my head and just my opinion:

Good: Cincinnati, USAA, Nationwide, Travelers, Amica (tho not as good as they used to be), The Hartford.

Not so good: GEICO, Progressive, State Farm. I usually have to sue cases with all of these companies. They tend to make poor offers Pre-suit. Usually (almost always with Progressive and GEICO) I can resolve the cases fairly after some litigation. State Farm I have to try cases more often.

Worst: Allstate. Avoid like the plague. They lowball pretty much on every case then remain bad through trial. Two of my last three jury trials were with them snd offers so bad that I got 5x and 10x their highest offer at trial—just ridiculous. This does not apply to Property damage but why deal with a company that increases your chances of being sued if you are at fault or will treat you like crap if you make a UM/UIM claim?
To further protect against lawsuits is why i also carry umbrella insurance. A lot of dirtbags out there looking for an opportunity to cash in. For $400/year i get additional piece of mind.
 

Luvwine

Well-Known Member
First Name
Stephen
Joined
Jun 7, 2021
Threads
3
Messages
86
Reaction score
101
Location
Western North Carolina
Vehicle(s)
2010 Wrangler Unlimited Sport
To further protect against lawsuits is why i also carry umbrella insurance. A lot of dirtbags out there looking for an opportunity to cash in. For $400/year i get additional piece of mind.
Yes, that is a good idea to protect your assets. Also, many companies will allow the umbrella to be applicable to UM/UIM coverage (for an extra fee). Per dollar of coverage after the first 25-50k of coverage, it is cheap. This is becauselike 80% of claims settle for under $25k. 80% of the rest settle for under $50k. So buying coverage for more than $50k becomes cheap. Many drivers have the minimum coverage allowed so if you or a family member or passenger is seriously hurt or killed due to someone else’s fault, having a lot of UM/UIM coverage allows you to get fair compensation. I keep $4MM of both liability and UM/UIM coverage for this reason. That may seem excessive but it is not very expensive. Also, have had too many conversations like the time I had to tell my client, a 22 year old girl who was now a quadriplegic, that there was only $25k in money available for her case. 😢
 
OP
OP
jlang

jlang

Well-Known Member
First Name
JDawg
Joined
Feb 26, 2021
Threads
30
Messages
454
Reaction score
623
Location
Texas
Vehicle(s)
2019 Jeep JL Punk'D Rubicon
Occupation
Semi-Retired
Thank you all for the responses. I currently have Allstate lol.

Anyway, good stuff here. Thanks to the community for, yet again, helping out.
 

Sponsored

yngrshr

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2020
Threads
0
Messages
55
Reaction score
47
Location
NJ
Vehicle(s)
2004 GTO
I'm sorry but people just randomly throwing out insurers and rates doesn't make much sense. Insurance is HIGHLY dependent on where you live and what carriers in your area are really pushing for business in that area. Auto in one area with one carrier may be 50-75% more expensive than with a different carrier in the same area.

I do not at all recommend you just do the online insurance purchasing thing that seemingly most do. Contact local agents. I use State Farm in my area of NJ. I saved quite a bit going through an agent rather than doing it myself. And we found that Stat Farm really beat the pants off of Geico in this area. For us, Liberty Mutual is getting more aggressive in our area which is great for when I market the program in another year or two.

But 100% go through an agent. You'll get a far better experience.
 

PBosch

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2021
Threads
3
Messages
162
Reaction score
347
Location
Austin TX
Vehicle(s)
2021 Rubicon XR
USAA 30+ years. Back when I used to get cold calls from other insurance companies wanting to give me a quote, once they heard I was with USAA that normally ended the phone call.
Sponsored

 
 



Top